Marion A. Wright Papers

On 6 February 1950, attorney Marion A. Wright (1894-1983), a
Marion native then recently retired to Linville Falls, N.C.,
wrote District Judge J. Waties Waring (1880-1968), of Charleston,
that for some time he had been toying with the idea of attempting
to write an article on him "along the line of the Profiles which
appear in The New Yorker," feeling that the thing about the
judge's career which would command the interest of readers would
be his "connection with so many and such crucial Civil Rights
cases." Wright stated that he intended trying to sell the
prospective article "to the magazine section of the Sunday New
York Times, or perhaps some other national magazine" and asked if
Waring would "consent to fairly extensive interviews." While
Wright admitted that "this article might be better written by a
professional writer," he also thought that "it might have a
certain value as being written by one South Carolinian about
another."

This collection of sixty manuscripts, 1950-1952, is the file of
letters and other items resulting from this overture to Judge
Waring. The three principal correspondents are Wright and Judge
and Mrs. Waring, but there are also letters from various magazine
editors, as well as from University of South Carolina political
science professor George L. Sherrill, whose confidential
assistance Wright solicited in securing copies of the anti-Waring
resolutions which had recently been made by the South Carolina
General Assembly.

The chief focus of interest is the revealing content of the
letters written to Wright by the Warings. In his initial
response to Wright's request, Judge Waring wrote, 9 February
1950, that he was "very sincerely and deeply gratified" by his
overture and promised to cooperate with him in every way towards
the preparation of the article, not out of the desire "of being
publicized for any personal reasons, but because I think that
anything we can say and that gets to the outside world as coming
from the South is most valuable." "You have graduated from South
Carolina and you are living in a much clearer atmosphere in North
Carolina," he goes on to say, "but I am still surrounded by all
of the old fog of prejudice. I am sure that your approach to
this whole subject would be extremely valuable." He remarks that
"the old Klan spirit" was still active in Charleston and that he
had received information that a petition was being circulated in
parts of the state asking for his impeachment.

In this letter he also had occasion to speak his mind "in regard
to Hodding Carter, [Ralph] McGill and others"--"For a time, I,
too, thought they were doing good work. I have now come to the
conclusion, however, that Hodding Carter and what he stands for
is our great menace. The old line Dixiecrat intolerance as
expressed by Ball of the Charleston News and Courier and
Congressmen and others from this state can be beaten down by
reasonable expositions. But the Hodding Carter gradualism and
appeasement is dangerous. It has so much sweet reason to it.
You should read a recent address delivered by Aubrey Williams of
Montgomery...on `gradualism' in which he points out unerringly
the dangers of this half-loaf method....To my mind, the most
important goal to which we should strive is the abolition of
legal segregation."

In a letter to Wright of 7 April 1950, Waring congratulates him
"most heartily on signing one of the briefs in the Sweatt case"
and says that the Supreme Court "has the great issue of
segregation put squarely before it, and I believe that these
decisions will either forward or retard the course of history
many decades." He also refers to "the epitaph on the [James
Louis] Pettigru tomb" and calls his attention to the fact that
"it was not an inscription devised by Pettigru's opponents in
Charleston, but was placed there by his daughter who left here
and lived in Italy as a result of his and her persecution. It is
true that they do honor and boast of him now. I do not dare to
compare myself with him in any way, but it is amusing to see that
the politicians including Congressman Rivers say now that they
have no complaint with my decisions giving the Negroes the right
to vote. And I have newspaper clippings showing their outcries
when these decisions were filed."

By 28 April Wright had completed a first draft of the article
and had sent it to Judge Waring. Although he had had to omit
much that he wanted to include, he felt that he had "chosen with
fair discretion to advance the general purpose" he had in
mind--"The presentation of the human interest side of your
personality; the delineation of the drama into which your
decisions have forced you; the making ridiculous the Dixiecrat
and News and Courier crowd and the bringing home to South
Carolinians the fact that they, too, have been ostracized in that
world opinion leaves them tragically alone." "I have not
mentioned Mr. [W.W.] Ball's name since I do not wish to advertise
him and feel his ego may thrive on the publicity which his sorry
role has brought to him," he continued.

Wright next heard from Mrs. [Elizabeth Avery] Waring, who, in a
letter of 2 May, wrote saying that the "warm personal and
dramatic appeal" of his article had come as "a most thrilling
surprise" and expressing to him "not only my admiration, but my
deep appreciation for the human quality of your creative as well
as accurate recording pen." She also had some editorial changes
to suggest, especially with regard to his "portion about the
evening with the Judge's daughter and son-in-law which is
particularly lovely and sensitive as to the effect that they have
on him as well as the joy and relaxation he always displays when
in his intimate home life with me." However, she felt that
Wright's reference to the Judge's rare imbibing of a
scotch-and-soda did not truly interpret his "ways or life nor the
essence and quality you here describe of a transformed person in
a `warm and pleasant, if not a gay and witty companion'." She
went on to say--"Truthfully, the Judge is not a scotch-and-soda
drinker, he really has no preference in whiskey and is not even a
drinker of any kind to sufficient extent to even mention it.
While he is not a W.C.T.U., still he has some cautious fear of
liquor, perhaps from the long life of observation of the many
alcoholics in Charleston. We believe that home scene would not
only be more honest and real without the reference to the
scotch-and-soda, but also undermines the real reason for his
transformation when he sets his foot into our home. I have
written in instead of the scotch-and-soda, `but certainly dear
ones around him had mellowed his usual reserve.'"

On 8 May, Judge Waring wrote to suggest that, in circulating the
article to prospective publishers, Wright "stress the fact that
you are a South Carolina lawyer. I think that is of enormous
interest and value." A month later, in a letter relating to
Wright's submission of the article to Town & Country and
The Reader's Digest, Mrs. Waring went on to remark--"As
for the politicians blasting at `THE WARINGS' they started off
with ravings against us but after the first day seemingly
stopped--why we do not know. However we are told that they are
not being quoted in our censored press when they damn the Negroes
and the Warings. Occasionally Thurmond refers to the `TURNCOAT
JUDGE'--he did in his speech the other night over the Radio but
very hurriedly, almost as though he did not wish it to be noticed
but that it had to be said." "Of course," she concluded, "I have
been cutting out as usual all newspaper items and there is a
great deal of importance at your service at any time. I do get
outside of the IRON CURTAIN news reports too."

In his final letter to Wright in this collection, written 21
November 1950, Waring summarizes his view of the scene regarding
racial desegregation--"I do believe that the only way we shall
ever get any relief is by having the matter fully aired. You and
I know how racial prejudice has been kept under cover in South
Carolina for many decades. Now we are having outbreaks. We have
had the troubles in your old county; the Moses Winns killing in
Summerville; and the affairs in Charleston. Then, that has been
followed up by Hamilton, the head of the Klan, making public
statements attacking various liberal organizations and now
getting into a controversy with Governor-elect Byrnes. The
dissension in the ranks of the `white supremacists' due to their
wishing to have different methods of enforcement of their rule
will open up the insides of this state to national and
international scrutiny. I say international advisedly because I
continue to get letters almost every day. Yesterday, two came
from Australia, and last week, one from Germany. I have gotten
others from various other parts of the world. Indeed the world
is interested in racial matters, and unless America wakes up and
cleans up its own house in this part of the country, we are not
going to much longer be able to claim to be leaders of freedom
and democracy."

Wright's article, which circulated under the title "Dixie
Vendetta," was turned down for publication by both The
Reader's Digest and Town & Country, as well as by
The New York Times. In a letter of 6 July 1950, Henry B.
Sell wrote--"As the Editor of Town & Country magazine I
have no interest one way or the other in the subject or the
current controversy. As Henry Sell I hold that the Judge
and Mrs. Waring are a remarkably dedicated couple. I love them
for it. I certainly do not have enough information to justify a
personal stand other than to `go along' with the Warings, as
cheering section!"

Included in the collection is a printed copy of "The Failure of
Gradualism," the talk presented by Aubrey Williams in Atlanta on
28 December 1949; and a Fabian Bachrach photographic portrait of
Waring in his judge's robes, inscribed "To my Friend Marion
Wright."